A Light in the Darkness
by FantasyInfinity
Summary: It's been a hundred centuries and she'd never woken up—a hundred centuries spent unconscious. That was all until her closed eyes finally opened again and the amber-eyed girl started a quite interesting adventure.
1. Chapter 1

**Btw before you read I just thought I'd let you know this is based only on the _first_ Guardians book and after the movie - since I only read the first one, haha. I haven't read any of the others yet so yeah this was kinda just an idea that popped into my head after reading book one of The Guardians and watching RotG.**

**JackxOC**

**Thanks for reading and I hope you review:)**

**********Disclaimer: I do not own Rise of the Guardians, nor do I own the Guardians of Childhood series. I also do not own any characters from either. William Joyce owns the books and the movies belong to DreamWorks. I only own any of my original characters from this fanfiction.**

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**********P**rologue: Awakening

It is known that there was once a time of the Golden Ages - when space travel was common, and people lived happily throughout the galaxies. The stars shone brightly. Numerous kingdoms on infinite billions of planets thrived. All darkness, and especially the fearlings - of whom were the most pure evil, feared, dark things in the universe - were kept away in a prison never to be opened, and were to be watched and guarded with a keen eye. And the pair of keen eyes that they have chosen especially for the job was Kozmotis Pitchiner.

He was a very trusted, respected, and kind man, with a family of which he cared very much for. A kind-hearted man he was. Pitchiner kept the darkness and fearlings in their prison for years and years, more than anyone could count, and was known as a hero. But with each passing second the fearlings just continued to beckon to him, beg him, to open their prison gate just _once.._

And so, well, we all know what happened next.

He gave in. He opened the gate just once, releasing the fearlings from their restraints. It was too late to realize his mistake and run from them all. Then, probably laughing at his foolishness, the fearlings taunted the man and overtook him.

And out rising in the midst of the darkness, a cold grey man dressed in all black sneered evilly, without a hint of good-heartedness left in him. Everyone started to fear him - to call him the Nightmare King. And he relished their fear.

He conquered and destroyed many. The Golden Age has ended and the Dark Age was such a wonderful time for the Nightmare King. Few were able to escape from him.

Then, just as he was planning his attack on them, the Lunar family escaped with their young son, who was still a boy, on a ship that could transform so that it looked like a moon from the outside. The Nightmare King followed and attacked, but was soon and very suddenly defeated by another special boy... named Nightlight.

And with that, Pitch was permanently weakened very much. Not as much that he couldn't still give people nightmares, because yes, he was still quite powerful. But now he was trapped to live on Earth for the rest of his immortal life, with no one that could see or believe in him.

The Lunars didn't survive, all but just their son. The Man in the Moon, as he now is known by. Tsar Lunar, who's home can be seen in the night sky today on every full moon and crescent.

What happened next in the story goes on with the wizards and bandits and more. And the rest.. and the rest...

..as the centuries pass and go by.

There are now the five Guardians of Childhood - of dreams, hope, wonder, memories, and fun. Pitch Black was defeated again when he tried, and failed, to rise to power on Earth. No mysteries unsolved, the Sandman is back, a new Guardian recruited to the team...

Nothing's wrong.

_Right?_

Well, no, actually. Because there _was_ some strange situations at hand...all of which the Man in the Moon was having quite a bit of trouble dealing with at the moment.

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The inside of the moon wasn't just a bunch of rock or whatever those scientists have thought. MiM even laughed to himself sometimes at the thought of it. No, this was where he lived, grew up in... and the moon was much more than just a big floating spherical silver rock in the sky.

Telescopes. Maps. Scrolls. Books. Things you can't even name. They were everywhere in MiM's home - er, well, of course everyone would just call it the moon...but still, nonetheless. The inside of his moonship-home.

Usually he'd be somewhere in one of the many large rooms studying and reading one of the hundreds of scrolls. Flipping through a book. Watching the people of earth through his specially designed telescope. Or, perhaps, watching down at the Guardians and their newest member's recent pranks on them in amusement to pass the time.

But he wasn't there now. Something important, even more important was going on at the moment. And that was in the infirmary room.

There was someone else there. A person. A girl. Around 16 or 17 to be exact. Her hair lay in a dark frizzy pile on the pillow her head rested on. The sheets were drawn up over just past her shoulders, with her turned to the side, clutching a bit of the comforter in her hands. The Man in the Moon watched over her carefully each day and night, anxious for her to wake up.

Why? Well, that is because she was unconscious for centuries.

Many, many centuries.

Every day she'd be laying in her bed, calm as ever, and breathing steadily. Every day she'd seem the very same in her unconscious state. And with each passing day MiM was growing in worry that she would never wake up.

A mystery, indeed.

But even more so, is that she had finally woke up. And when the Man in the Moon heard from one of his helpful little moon-bots that she even just _moved_...he was very, _very_ alert.

Now, kneeling by her side, Manny's cautious yet kind face smiling down at her, he could see her two amber eyes slowly open up.

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**Hehe so yeah, I wrote a fanfic. This is my first one, in fact. Sorry if it's too boring and really short right now at the moment but it's the prologue and I'm still working on it. I got a lot planned but I'm not gonna tell you yet, so you'll have to wait and review ;)**

**I wanted this one to be different from other fanfics out there so I got this really cool idea in my head I'm trying to write out for this fanfic so yeahh... Yes, she's an OC. And it will be a pairing with Jack. I will try my hardest not to make it a Mary-Sue and not to rush the plot, and any constructional criticism is appreciated.**

**This story will have references to the first Guardians book, as you can already see in this beginning chapter. I didn't read all the Guardians of Childhood books, as I've said earlier, but I've read the first one and am basing this off of stuff I read from that.**

**SORRY FOR THE LAME FIRST CHAPTER BUT IT'S A PROLOGUE, TELL ME YOUR THOUGHTS ON IT IN A REVIEW GUYS, THANKS:)**

**~FantasyInfinity**


	2. Chapter 2

**The second chapter of my fanfic is up! It's longer than the prologue, and took me quite a while to finish. I added more on the backstory of MiM and my OC... plus some other stuff. You'll have to read to find out.**

**Constructional criticism appreciated, please leave your thoughts in a review!**

**************Disclaimer: I do not own Rise of the Guardians, nor do I own the Guardians of Childhood series. I also do not own any characters from either. William Joyce owns the books and the movies belong to DreamWorks. I only own any of my original characters from this fanfiction.**

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**Chapter 2: Explanations**

The girl with amber eyes blinked wearily. She brought her hands up to wipe at them, then yawned, stretched, and turned over to her right side to fall back asleep again, snuggling into her warm pillow. All the while she did not notice the pair of blue-grey eyes behind her, watching curiously.

"You have been asleep for a_ hundred centuries_, finally wake up, and now you want to go _back to sleep?_"

The teen jolted upright, shocked at the sudden voice next to her. The only thing she could think of at moment was _What the hell?!_ as she struggled to let her mind focus. Shaking her head to clear away the dizziness from sitting up too quickly, she finally turned to her left to see a man around the age of 29 or 30 sitting next to her. Well, at least he looked 29 - that was just the age she was guessing he was.

His head was, well, bald. All except for a strand of curly white hair right in the middle. He had a mustache and a short beard, of which he was stroking thoughtfully now, probably observing her as well. The man also wore a silver robe with white cuffs. His face was filled with the expression of amusement, worry, but also relief.

The girl blinked again. _Why did he look kind of...familiar?_ A quick glance around her told her that she was in an infirmary room. Turning back to him, she caught sight of something next to the man.

It was a...robot? It was a strange white floating - thing - of some sort, with a crescent moon design on its head. _Wait... moon?_

After a few seconds of confused silence and observing, she finally spoke, recognition dawning on her as she gasped. "Tsar?"

Tsar let out a relieved breath, as if he's been holding it for very long. _She remembers...good._

"Teva," he paused, considering what to say after waiting so long to see the girl next to him awake again. He cleared his throat. "You are finally awake."

"Um..yeah. I guess I am? What happened? And why am I in an infirmary room?" Thinking back to what Tsar had said earlier, her eyes widened. She was already speaking before he could even utter a response. "_How _long have I been asleep?!"

"A hundred centuries."

There was a long moment of silence.

The silence was broken by the girl, now identified as Teva, snorting. "A hundred centuries. _Haha_, very funny Tsar. You probably woke me up to get me to do something for you, didn't you?" She held her hand up before the man could respond. "Seriously, I'm not in the mood - for chores, anything really. Ow man, and why does my back freaking hurt? Well, thanks for interrupting my nice little nap, but I wanna eat." Teva always hated when Tsar interrupted her while she was sleeping.

_I just love my sleep. Can't a girl get some nice, peaceful sleep without someone scaring the crap out of her to wake her up? _she thought. _Man, I need coffee. Now._

Throwing her legs over the side of the bed, Teva made a move to get up, sighing when Tsar's arm stopped her. No coffee then, sadly.

"Teva, I am very serious. This is no joke. Do you remember what happened?" he paused again. "Before you..fell asleep. What do you remember?"

The girl stopped, thinking. Tsar looked really serious. And when he was serious, he meant _serious._

Could he be telling the truth? But that's absurd. How could she have been some sort of Sleeping Beauty to wake up after a hundred _centuries_? All she felt was tired and thirsty at the moment. Finally, she decided just to answer him.

"We were looking at some maps, in the study room.. I don't know what of. But then I, um...I passed out suddenly?.." She trailed off, unsure.

"Yes, we were. And you did indeed pass out, and were unconscious for a hundred centuries. Continue, but what do you remember _before _that? Let's say, seven years before that actually."

By now Teva flopped back down onto the bed. After a short hesitation, taking in his words, she answered, "Well, that was when me and you and the Lunars sailed off in this ship.."

"Because?" Tsar Lunar was quite relieved that the girl had remembered everything so far. He needed to make sure that she remembered everything from before she dropped unconscious.

"Because of ..._Pitch._" The Man in the Moon nodded for her to continue. Teva's eyes darkened as all the memories seemed to flood back to her. "When the fearlings..overtook him, he destroyed everything. I think I remember now. He was after us, wasn't he? 'Cause that's when your family took me with you.. I was nine then. And you were 12. But he still found us here and attacked. The Lunars are gone and we had to live here or something. I don't think I remember much of the rest though, those parts seem kind of blurry. Tsar, what's going on? Is he b-"

"No. Pitch Black is now long defeated.. I am sure that he will not try anything soon again. But the reason you couldn't remember, Teva, is because he attacked you. You got hit in the head very badly, and every year for seven years, if you remember, you'd complain about the constant migraines you had. That's when suddenly, although years later, you eventually fell unconscious and I had to watch over you. You wouldn't wake up, Teva. I was starting to worry that you never would." At the last part Tsar's voice was etched with the smallest bit of worry, but he still kept his calm state, letting Teva sink it all in.

They were like siblings, Teva and Tsar. Tsar was usually the bossy one, always taking the role of being more responsible since he was older. But he was also quite clever and wise as he grew older. Teva always loved to mess with his strange trinkets and let him chase her around the ship. Tsar would pretend to act annoyed, but really he didn't mind. He enjoyed having some company besides his moonbots, and plus the Lunar family and Teva's were once very close.

Of course, both of their families are probably..long gone by now. Maybe even turned into fearlings by Pitch. Teva shuddered at the thought. She hated him. When the darkness took him, she thought once that _maybe,_ just maybe, she could find a way to bring the good side of him that she - everyone - always knew back. But nothing could help. He was all evil without a care of anything but himself. He manipulated, taunted, acted so cruel... he destroyed almost everything in his path! And after everything? Of course, everyone knew that the man who once cared so much was gone. And what Teva hated even more was her eyes. They always reminded her of _him._

Shaking her head as if to clear the bad thoughts, Teva turned her thinking to Nightlight. He was one of her old friends. She always liked spending time with him, he was always a free spirit. What ever happened to him? Wasn't he the one who saved them when Pitch had attacked? If so then he must still be alive.. probably flying around somewhere, hopping on clouds or doing whatever it is he did. Hopefully he was okay.

Finally seeming to faze back into the present again, Teva spoke.

"Wow." She didn't really know what to say. No wonder her back hurt. "So... it really has been a hundred centuries. Ha, lucky I'm immortal." Coming to think of it, Teva was starting to get curious about how she looked. Did she age while she was sleeping? When she fell unconscious she was about 16.. "Tsar, can I have a mirror?"

MiM chuckled. "Yes, you may." After a quick gesture to the moonbot beside him, the man watched as it zoomed off, returning only a couple of seconds later with a hand-mirror on a tray. The robot lifted the tray to Teva, who took it and peered at herself in the glass.

In her reflection, two golden orbs outlined with long black lashes stared back at her. A few light freckles were adorned across the teen girl's nose and cheeks, and her skin was a light tannish color. Dark brown hair that almost seemed black stuck out in numerous directions lay in tangled piles on her shoulders. Teva grimaced slightly at that. _That'll take a long time to untangle. _But other than the messy morning hair that needed a _great_ deal of fixing later on, she looked pretty much the same as she had before her...er..hundred-century-long sleep.

"Huh.. I still look 16," she said after observing herself.

"That is probably the age you have stopped aging at. Lucky for you, but that doesn't change the fact that you're still very old." Teva rolled her eyes, but smiled.

In response, she said, "Yeah, well, you're technically still older than me. And you still _look_, what, 30? Anyone would say that you're the old one here. Also you've got almost no hair."

"I stopped aging at _29_."

She snorted. "_Big difference_. You still look old. Maybe even 50, I could say."

"I do _not _look 50!"

"Tsar, you have one strand of white hair on your head. Do you really think someone would say you look just _29_?"

Tsar didn't really answer. The two stared narrow-eyed at each other. After a short glaring contest, both immortals broke into laughter, seeming to break the thick atmosphere from earlier with their loud guffaws echoing off the room's walls.

After their laughter died down a bit, Tsar spoke again. "Indeed it has been very long, so you and I _both _are quite old, but since you have awoken I've been wanting to show you some things. Would you like to see?" he said, finally standing up and gesturing to the doorway.

Teva thought for a moment, wondering what it might be that Tsar wanted to show her this time. She had to admit, the things he invented were quite interesting, and she'd always loved to hear the stories of what he'd learned or watched of things going on on the planet this very ship revolved around. After ten millenniums he must have had a lot more things he invented in all that time. Finally she got up and started to follow.

"Ah, ah, no. Not yet," MiM said, waving a finger.

"What?" Teva asked in confusion.

"You stink."

"_Tsar!"_

Laughing, Tsar answered. "Well, you do, wouldn't you think? Go take a shower and change. It _has_ been 10,000 years."

"Oh," was all the slightly blushing teen replied. "I guess I should."

* * *

After her shower, Teva put on the clothes that Tsar had offered, which consisted of a plain forest green tank top, a pair of loose dark jeans, and new black knee-high boots. But when she had asked where he had even gotten them, Teva was a little shocked to know that his moonbots made it themselves to look almost exactly like the modern attire people wore on earth. The things in this ship never failed to amaze her.

Fixing her hair wasn't easy. It took about 30 minutes or so until she managed to get it untangled and tie it all up in a high ponytail. The now more decent looking immortal then allowed herself to be led out into the study room by another one of the little moonbots.

Not that she needed guiding, really. Sure, the inside of the moon was huge, but the study room was practically the biggest room in the ship. It was easy to find, and not so hard to go through - for Teva. She remembered most of the interior of it by heart, after years of spending her whole childhood exploring and living here.

The study room being the biggest room in the entire ship wasn't an exaggeration. It was like the living room of an ordinary home - it was the largest in it. Only, of course, this was _much_ larger in comparison, and had much different things in the room. All around her, most walls were occupied with bookshelves. Others were covered in maps, or hanging objects and inventions of all sorts. The fireplace where she always used to read books near blazed as bright as ever in one corner. Moonbots scurried to and fro, some dusting shelves, others rearranging the many books and scrolls. The one that had guided her was currently zooming off with the rest to do other chores around the ship.

There were the tallest pillars you'd ever see, and spiral staircases weaving paths to different sections of the study room. Hell, there was even a globe triple the size of Teva herself that she saw as she entered.

Walking closer to it, she touched a spot that was closest to her randomly, curious. She felt the cool, smooth painted metal beneath her fingers, wondering why Tsar couldn't just have a normal sized globe that would be easier to look at. But then again he still did have those too, so why another so large?

_Perhaps this one is different in a way? _she wondered. Her thoughts were answered when suddenly a hologram seemed to pop out from the spot her hand was rested on.

Startled, Teva staggered back, almost tripping and knocking over a pile of scrolls nearby that a moonbot had temporarily set down. Mentally cursing to herself, she quickly straightened up again, gazing up at the globe. The hologram wasn't there anymore.

Cautiously this time, Teva gently rested her fingers on the same spot. A second later, the hologram showed up again.

Teva squinted to read the transparent words. She mumbled to herself what she read. "Continent: Africa. Selected area: South Africa. Population estimated: 53,000,000..-" and on it went with the time it was, characteristics of the area, and so on. Figuring that wherever she touched, a hologram would show up to tell her information about the place, she tested her theory by reaching up and placing her finger in another spot. It showed basically the same thing, just different information shown.

_Continent: North America. Selected area: Burgess, Pennsylvania.. _and etc.

"I wonder if Tsar built it so that it can tell me things _other_ than about just the place.." she mused aloud. Almost as if hearing her, the hologram switched to one showing different information.

_Spirits present at moment: One. Believers: Seventy-nine. Belief status: Good._

"Huh. Wonder what that even means.."

"It means that there is an immortal spirit in the area, and there are seventy-nine children there who have belief in the Guardians and some immortal spirits of the Earth."

Yelping at the voice suddenly next to her, Teva became startled again and fell into the pile of scrolls.

"_Tsar! _How in the-" the immortal teen took a moment to compose herself before she said something a bit too.. colorful. "Could you _please_ just stop popping out of nowhere?" _You scared the crap out of me twice already today,_ she mentally added. Teva sighed. _Same old Tsar._ He could have a very serious, wise and content character sometimes, but really if you knew him like Teva, you'd know how much of a carefree spirit he really is. Much like Nightlight. Teva and the two always played together when they were young, and believe it or not, Tsar was actually quite a trickster. Nightlight too, but he was less annoying, since he didn't really speak. And despite her anger, Teva couldn't help but smile.

"I told you to meet me in the study room, but I did not give you permission to wander around and mess with my globe." He said this with a stern voice, but you could tell by his playful eyes that he wasn't mad at Teva either. He chuckled, continuing.

"We are immortal spirits, as you know. The people on earth are mortals. There are also immortal spirits on Earth, who do different things. For example, the Leprechaun - he is an immortal who brings luck to humans. Cupid is a spirit who brings love. I have also chosen special ones who protect the children, five spirits who are the Guardians of Childhood." Teva leaned closer, listening. "They are known as the Sandman, E. Aster Bunnymund (though most call him the Easter Bunny), Nicholas St. North, and Toothiana (the Tooth Fairy). Jack Frost is the newest addition. They protect the dreams, hope, wonder, memories, and fun in everyone's childhood."

Teva nodded, getting up from her position on the floor. "But what about the belief thing? What's that?"

"Immortal spirits aren't visible to anyone on Earth, unless they are believed in. Otherwise, they pass through you, can't hear you, or see you. You'd be like a ghost." She would've missed it if she hadn't been looking him in the eyes, but Teva saw a flash of regret in Tsar's face when he said this. She was curious about why, but she decided it was none of her business to dig into. She made a mental note also to ask more about these "Guardians" later.

The Man in the Moon cleared his throat. "Come, let me show you what I've wanted you to see. And no touching anything around you unless I say." _And other days Tsar could also be like a bossy older sibling._

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**Woohoo, second chapter done. That's the longest I've _ever_ written so far.. so yeah, it took a while. Most of my chapters for this fanfic will have around 3k or just a bit less. Tell me if I made any errors. R&R and all that.**

**As you can see, this takes place after the movie-verse. They're still in the Tsar's ship, but don't worry, Teva will get to go to Earth _soon_. I won't let her meet the Guardians and all that _yet_ because I don't want to rush the plot... I also wanted to make MiM's character a bit different than what most people portray him as. ;]**

**Tell me if anything's confusing in this chapter, too, by the way. I tried to make it as clear and descriptive as I could. Sometimes I also may go back and revise for errors.**

**I will be doing a lot of the story in Teva's third person POV. Mostly. Does the name sound weird by the way? Lol. Anywho, too late to change that now. It's pronounced like (Teh-vuh).**

**Sabaine: Thanks so much for the review! You're actually my first one so, idk, here's a cookie lol *hands over a chocolate cookie*. But really, I appreciate it:) I try my best to put as much detail as I can into my writing. I hope you enjoyed this chapter too.**

**Thank you to all the followers/favoriters too! If that's even a word..**

**~FI**


	3. Chapter 3

**I'm back! It's been a while since my last update because I'm in the process of moving and it was just today that I was able to access the internet again. This chapter's slightly shorter than the second, but I hope you guys like it anyway. Read and review, constructional criticism appreciated.**

**********Disclaimer: I do not own Rise of the Guardians, nor do I own the Guardians of Childhood series. I also do not own any characters from either. William Joyce owns the books and the movies belong to DreamWorks. I only own any of my original characters from this fanfiction.**

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**Chapter 3: Catching Up**

Tsar led her to the middle of the room, which was quite far from where the globe was. All the while, Teva gaped about at all the new things Tsar has added since she last saw the rest of the study room. The sound of the moonbots' occasional beeping could be heard echoing across the room, along with soft clinks of metal probably from one of Tsar's inventions working.

The study room was certainly much fuller with more things of all sorts filling up the room, but MiM and his moonbots still managed to keep it organized. Teva wondered how he managed to do all of this as she took in her surroundings.

After passing yet even more bookshelves and moving past a few working moonbots, they reached a clearer area of the room. Teva's boots echoed softly on the white marble floor. One specific tile on the floor was circular-shaped, with the design of the Earth on it. A copper and silver colored telescope stood on it, about as wide as Teva was tall. From afar, it would look just like any ordinary telescope. But now that Teva was up close, she could see the intricate details added and the way it was specially designed... probably designed by Tsar himself. She wouldn't be surprised. Tsar had invented lots of interesting devices, including his own improvisations of already existing implements. But with every new invention and designed gadget, what Tsar loved to do most was to add something _very unique, _and Teva was always intrigued by every one of them.

Tsar smiled down at the younger immortal, watching as she observed the telescope, reaching out a hand out to it. Midway, she stopped, turning to him. Chuckling, he nodded, allowing her to brush her fingers over the smooth metal structure of the telescope. Teva's amber eyes were filled with wonder and awe at the instrument.

"It looks... pretty damn epic, for a telescope," she stated. "What do you use it for? Shouldn't there be like an opening in the ceiling for you to use it?" Teva said, craning her neck upwards to see if there was one.

Tsar chuckled again, replying, "Of course not. You of all people should know about me and my inventions."

The girl furrowed her dark eyebrows, obviously still confused. "I know that. I mean, but it's a _telescope_. Shouldn't you need to look at _something?_"

"Why yes, obviously. That is the reason why I brought you here. The telescope itself is not what I wanted you to see. Now," Tsar said, adjusting the angle of the telescope so that the looking part was closer to Teva's eye-level. "Look through the glass."

Teva did as she was told and put her eye to the viewing glass part of the telescope, shutting one eye. She squinted her open eye, trying to make out an image. "I can't see anything. It's just a big blur of... nothing."

"Be patient. Remember what I told you about the Guardians? You know their names. For the telescope to work you have to either tell it a place you'd like to see, or a person. Either works. Since you don't know much about the modern world right now, why don't you say the name of one of the Guardians? It will show you them." Tsar explained.

Teva nodded, eye still fixed into the telescope. "But wouldn't that be kind of... stalking?" she asked.

"Just go on, already, Teva!" the Tsar said, laughing.

Teva rolled her eyes and grinned. "Sheesh, fine. Well it's probably normal for you to do it, but I'm not sure if _they'd_ not mind though.. " She heard him laugh again.

The girl paused for a moment, thinking. _What were the Guardians' names again? Oh, right. North, the Easter Bunny guy, Tooth Fairy, Sandman, and... was it Jack Frost? _After a few moments of silent consideration, Teva whispered her choice to the telescope.

"Show me.. Jack Frost."

The blurred image transformed into a scene with of a boy with snow white hair and azure eyes.

She watched for a minute, quietly observing and not daring to make a sound, as if the people in the scene would hear her - which they wouldn't, but she stayed quiet while watching nonetheless. She was guessing the albino teen was Jack Frost. And if the white hair and blue eyes weren't enough to give that away, it became pretty obvious when she saw that he was, in fact, barefoot, wearing only a blue frosted sweatshirt and old-looking brown trousers. He also carried a long curved wooden staff in his hand that resembled a shepherd's hook. The scene took place in the winter, and the Guardian of Fun seemed to be having a snowball fight with some kids. Teva laughed silently when one of the kids hit the winter spirit directly in the face, watching with amusement as he formed one of his own snowballs from mid-air and threw it in return.

A yelp and a whoop of laughter could be heard, and the watching girl was taken aback. Not by the fact that they laughed, no, but she actually _heard_ them.. Again, Teva was amazed at Tsar's work. He must have added sound producers or something so that you could also hear whatever you were watching, too.

Teva finally took a step back from the telescope, turning to Tsar. The middle-aged man raised a silver eyebrow expectantly as he stared back at her. Speaking up, he simply asked, "Well?"

She blinked, then laughed. "I don't know how you even made this, but it works awesomely. I mean, you can actually _see_ what's going on there..." Pausing for a moment, she asked, "So you use this thing often? Is that how you watch over them - those Guardians that you chose?"

MiM nodded. "Yes, it is. Through this telescope I can watch them and the people on Earth anywhere, from here. I usually don't contact them often, except sometimes when there were certain signs of danger.." he trailed off.

"Danger? Like what?" Teva narrowed her golden eyes suspiciously.

A sigh. "There is much that has happened during these past centuries when you were unconscious, Teva. There _were_ some incidents with Pitch... _But_ before you interrupt and say how I lied about him being long gone, I assure you that he _is_ defeated for good at the moment. Despite the number of times he has tried to succeed in his plans, he's been defeated. During his last battle against the Guardians he ended up being trapped in his own underground lair, actually. That was about six years ago.." Tsar Lunar said.

Teva wasn't at all worried, though, like Tsar had expected. And after said man realized this and saw her deadpan expression that basically said, _you better explain to me everything right now_, he sighed again. He had a _lot_ of talking to do. "Let's have a seat near the fireplace, you may have a coffee while I fill you in on all the details." Tsar promised.

And with that Teva was satisfied, already walking over to have a comfy seat near the warmth of the fire while she waited for her coffee.

* * *

Over the course of an hour, Tsar managed to summarize the events of the battles against the Nightmare King - including Pitch's first attempt against North and the old wizard Ombric long ago, and the most recent with the Guardian of Fun and children of Burgess. He also filled her in on some things about Earth she was curious about. Teva listened intently, occasionally taking moments to pleasantly gulp down some of her pumpkin spice coffee. She'd ask a few questions here and there, and Tsar would answer them as best as he could from where he sat opposite to her, also holding his own warm drink in hand. Tsar had also allowed Teva to use the globe and the telescope again.

When he finally finished, Teva remained sitting silent for a short minute, thinking in on all of what she'd just heard. She lifted her mug to her lips to finish the last of her drink, placing it on the mahogany wooden table between the two immortals when she was done. Then she lifted one leg up to rest her foot on the wood, crossing her other leg over it.

"Well, damn. To think I was sleeping through all the action," she chuckled. _It would've been cool if I could watch it all go on though.. _"A _lot_ of stuff has happened."

"Yes, much has," Tsar replied, chucking a bit also. He then had a thoughtful look on his face as he stroked his beard, seeming to consider something in his mind.

Seeing the look on her friend's face, Teva asked, "What's up, Tsar? Penny for your thoughts?"

"I was just thinking of something... but I don't know how it would work. I'm sure I do have _something.." _Tsar trailed off vaguely, seeming to muse most of this to himself rather than to Teva. Suddenly his blue-grey eyes lit up as he stood abruptly. "Ah, I remember now. This will be wonderful! Come with me." The grinning man turned and strode away into another part of the study room without looking to see if the girl was even following.

His footsteps echoed on the wooden floor. He was about fifteen steps away now. _Sixteen..seventeen...eighteen.._

"Um.." Teva was utterly bemused by Tsar's sudden glee, still sitting on the plush leather couch with her legs crossed up on the table. "Hey.. Tsar?" she called. He kept walking.

Grunting to herself, she got up and ran to catch up to him, trying to dodge the working robots along the way. "Hey! Where are you going? - _Ow, whoops, sorry little moonbot-guy - _Wait up, man!_"_

* * *

After quite a long chase through the gigantic study room, Teva was gasping for breath by the time she found him. Tsar was crouching by a moonbot, and in his hands he was fiddling with a glass ball of some sort.

"Ah, yes. Thank you, this is just what I was looking for. You may go now," he gestured for the little bot to leave. Seeing Teva, he smiled down at her as he stood, wrinkles showing in the corners of his eyes. Before she could speak, Tsar did instead. And what he said next shocked Teva even more than his behavior just earlier had.

"Would you like to go to Earth?"

The teen immortal stared at the older man as if he was crazy. Now _that _was kind of unexpected. Scratch the 'kind of' part actually. It was really unexpected. Pink lips parted in an "o" shape as she gaped. She wasn't shocked in a good way or a bad way, really, she was just surprised. Teva wasn't sure what to answer, actually. She's lived in this ship for most of her life, after all - well, even though most of it was in her unconscious state - but still. The two never really discussed going there, although a few times Teva _had_ thought of it. It would be nice to explore and be somewhere else other than cooped up in the same ship for all her immortal life..

Tsar continued. "I was wondering if you'd like to meet the Guardians, and perhaps explore there.." he raised his eyebrows, still waiting for an answer.

Shaking out of her shock, Teva finally responded. "Um, I... well_ fudge_. I honestly don't know.. Now that I think about it I guess it'd be pretty cool but, er.." _But would I even be able to come back here? _she thought anxiously.

As if reading her thoughts, MiM responded, sighing. "I know you must be worried that you cannot return, which you won't be able to. But perhaps you would enjoy it better there. Most mortals only live once, but as an immortal like yourself you should be one to have adventures. There is only so much in my ship compared to everything there." he smiled softly, still holding the glass orb in his hand.

"Oh," was all Teva could reply, considering this.

She_ could_ have a pretty epic adventure though. Who knows? She might even find Nightlight again sometime. However, she would be venturing out alone, since MiM would have to keep the moon in orbit; can't have a still moon in the sky. The mortals would have a huge freak about that, for sure. And even if he was able come, despite the moonbots here to maintain the place, how _could _Tsar leave? He has his name for being the 'Man in the Moon' for a reason. "I'm guessing that ball you're holding is some way to get me there or?.."

"This is a portal I have made based off of one of Nicholas's own marvelous inventions, the snowglobe. It works a little similarly to the telescope, and can get you to any place on Earth you wish to travel. But you can only use it once, for once you select a place and go through, the ball won't appear again for later use."

The teen nodded, asking one last question. "But where would I go? It's not like I know anywhere _to_ go."

At this Tsar furrowed his eyebrows, his face in a look of thought. "Actually, I haven't thought about that part yet. Perhaps you can start off at Burgess, or would you like to meet the Guardians?" He received a shrug of the shoulders in reply.

"I dunno. I- wait, the Guardians don't even know about me, do they?"

MiM sheepishly chuckled. "No, I'm afraid not. I didn't feel the need to let them know about you yet, since you haven't awoken since just today. They would have a bit of a shock when they find out, though. I can't directly speak to them from here, so unless you're willing to give a long introduction and explanation.."

Teva groaned. "Fine. You can just drop me off somewhere in Burgess, then," she decided finally.

"Very well," he handed the girl the portal. She took it into her hands, holding the smooth glass orb and staring into it for a long while. _I woke up and found out I slept for 10,000 years and now I'm actually getting off this ship and going to earth. What a day._ Teva thought. So much has happened in only the past three hours or so. Breaking the silence, she spoke, "So this is basically going to be the last time we see each other in person, huh?" It was more of a statement than a question.

Tsar smiled again at her sadly. "Yes, it is. But I'm sure I'll find some other way we can speak again, even though I don't know when." He paused. "Just tell it your destination and it will send you there."

Tsar watched as Teva brought the orb near her lips and a bit hesitantly whispered "Burgess" into it. The glass orb vibrated in her hands before she threw it too the floor. Immediately after it shattered a silver portal appeared, shining brightly in Teva's amber eyes. Turning to Tsar one last time, she grinned and waved a quick goodbye before leaping through.

* * *

**Hopefully this didn't seem too rushed.. did it? Anywho, thanks for reading so far to all the readers who read this. Btw I also added a bit on the second chapter - not much, but I just thought I'd edit it a bit :)**

**Guest: Thank you for your review. And yes, I have chose her name for a reason. There were other ones I could've chosen from, but I didn't want the meaning to be too obvious.**

**iceprincess96: Thank you so much omg! love you too and *tackles you in a giant hug* I really try my best at writing these chapters. Honestly, just tysm:) This chapter was a bit shorter but I hope you still liked it.**

**LadyBookworm18: Thanks!**

**Sabaine: Thanks, I actually added a bit on her characteristics in the second chapter because I realized I did actually leave out a lot of detail on her looks. Again, I really appreciate your reviews.**

**~FI**


	4. Chapter 4

**Happy Thanksgiving! :)**

**I did this whole chapter in a day lol. Read and review, hope you all like it.**

**************Disclaimer: I do not own Rise of the Guardians, nor do I own the Guardians of Childhood series. I also do not own any characters from either. William Joyce owns the books and the movies belong to DreamWorks. I only own any of my original characters from this fanfiction.**

* * *

**************Chapter 4: Out and About**

Teva's landing on the other side of the portal was not graceful.

The moment she leaped into the portal she was engulfed by a huge wave of light that shined through her eyelids even as she closed them shut. Unlike she had anticipated, once she was inside it also lifted her off her feet and next thing she knew she was spinning in circles and upside down. If anyone else were around they could hear the long string of curse words uttered simultaneously while screaming at the same time. It only really lasted a few seconds, but Teva was_ much_ more than relieved when it was all finally over.

She staggered out of the portal a few feet, dizzy and off balance from the spinning. Eventually she tripped on a fallen tree branch, falling face-first into the snow. The light-headed teen swore. Realizing how foolish she must look, she quickly lifted her now numb face and rubbed the crushed ice away with her hands. Teva could practically hear MiM laughing at the sight of her from the ship as he watched from his telescope.

However, looking at the sky she could see it was _almost_ morning. During her and Tsar's long conversation by the fire earlier, she had asked more about the telescope. Turns out the cons of its use is that it only worked wherever the moon was out in the area on Earth to show the viewer that place.

After a bit of an effort, Teva managed to haul herself up off the snow-covered ground. Just above her, so far but seeming so close she could touch it, the spherical silver-white moon seemed to smile down at her before eventually moving on slowly as the sun rose. She never thought the moon could actually be quite beautiful from the outside. Teva gave a two-finger salute to it, before turning her gaze back down to take in her new surroundings.

Apparently she was in a forest. As the now rising sun's rays hit the ground, it seemed to make the white landscape of the clearing shimmer around her. Trees and shrubs stood scattered around, snow also resting on their leafless branches. The very tops of the trees seemed to just almost touch the wispy cotton clouds above. A lone bird chirped a soft melody in the distance.

It was what people would call a winter wonderland.

Smiling, Teva began walking a bit aimlessly as she continued to survey her surroundings.

_Oh yeah. It's adventure time, bitch._

* * *

Teva didn't mind that she didn't exactly know where she was going. The scenery was nice, anyways. Soon enough though she ended up wandering around a small city. _"_So this must be Burgess, huh," she mused aloud.

The city was, well, a city. There was the usual—a bunch of cars, pedestrians walking dogs along the frosted sidewalks, others chatting away on their phones as they hurriedly rushed to work. Seeing an advertisement in a window showing a frappe that looked to be good, Teva stepped into the coffee shop she learned was a Starbucks. It was much warmer in there and smelled of coffee - obviously - and was filled with a few people here and there. Teva began to take notice on how no one even glanced her way. _So is this what Tsar meant when they can't see us?_

Her thoughts were answered as a woman in a business suit opened the door behind her and walked right through her.

Like she was a ghost.

The immortal spirit gasped, clutching the spot where the woman had walked through. Teva glanced back at her. The woman, now ordering her own frappe, didn't seem at all unnerved after passing through her. Another person passed through, the child holding her mother's hand also not noticing Teva's presence. It didn't hurt physically, but to know that you practically don't exist... _that_ did.

Composing herself, Teva straightened up. She knew this would happen anyway, but she was still unnerved by the whole walking-through-you thing. She sighed as she thought. _That was creepy..._ _Anyway, I'm thirsty._

Shifting her thoughts away from what just happened, Teva waited until the cashier placed the business woman's ordered frappe on the counter before quickly snatching it up. The customer was digging through her purse for something and the cashier was too busy fiddling with her nails so the two women didn't even notice. Teva snickered when both finally looked up with baffled expressions when they noticed the drink has vanished. Apparently since Teva was invisible, the drink she was now holding has disappeared from view as well.

Finally stepping out of the Starbucks and back into the chilly winter air, the teen happily enjoyed her frappe.

* * *

Tsar Lunar had been watching the young girl as she stumbled out from the portal into the snow-covered clearing. He did laugh in amusement as she landed face-first on the ground. He smiled when she waved a two-finger salute good-bye to him as his ship sailed off farther to another part of the word, allowing the day to come in Burgess.

MiM stepped away from the telescope, a small smile still on his face. When one of his moonbeams suddenly came in and zoomed up into his face in alert, though, Tsar's expression turned serious as a crease formed between his eyebrows in concern.

Yes, it was a moonbeam. Not a moonbot - those were different. Moonbeams were much, _much,_ smaller than the robots, and were more like little glowing, floating orbs that gave off light - moonlight. They don't exactly have any special kind of form, but they are still quite useful. They were MiM's other helpers that usually spent their time around the Earth during the nighttime, watching and making sure everything was fine. It was normal for them to return to the ship, as they usually did every week to fill Tsar in on any details.

In the past weeks there's been sightings of the remaining Nightmares roaming freely and feeding off the children's fear by giving them bad dreams every once in a while, but nothing much. However, the only reason a moonbeam would return to the Moon to report so early, especially the way this little one did so urgently, is because it meant there was danger coming.

Tsar listened carefully to the little moonbeam. He was the only one who could clearly decipher what their silent way of speaking was. It bobbed up and down, glowing urgently in place at MiM's eye level, explaining.

According to the fellow moonbeam, there has been more sightings of the Nightmares again - except that now there was another problem.

Pitch was getting stronger.

Tsar was shocked at this information, but stayed silent until the moonbeam was finished with its story. It and some other moonbeams had went into Pitch's lair to check on him, and indeed, he was no longer in his weakened state. The moonbeams stayed hidden from his view, and saw that the king of nightmares has somehow managed to control his Nightmare minions from trapped underground. And with the growing number of bad dreams given, Pitch grew stronger with the children's fear.

Then the moonbeams left the lair, going off to do the rest of their business and making sure that the belief status was well in all places. This moonbeam was sent to deliver the message.

They should have seen this coming. Although Pitch was trapped underground, that did not mean the Nightmares were as well. Some of them did chase him into the lair with him, but a majority were still out there. But what Tsar was worried about was that Pitch had other plans. He had a suspicion that once he got strong enough, he would escape. And then all chaos will break loose again.

The Man in the Moon sighed deeply. It was a bad idea to send Teva to earth, but what's done is done. He'll probably have to contact the Guardians again soon, but not at this moment. Instead he nodded to the moonbeam, dismissing it, then went over to his globe to check the belief status himself. So far it was still all pretty much still well, but Tsar Lunar knew better that soon enough that would change.

If Pitch was onto something again, he wouldn't have the same plan as last time. He may be evil but he was clever, and so did MiM and the Guardians have to be if they wanted to defeat him _permanently_ this time.

* * *

By now Teva had already finished her frappe and tossed the cup away in a nearby trash can. Walking with her hands in her jean pockets, she then stopped at the sight of a group of kids sitting in a circle in the snow-covered park. Well, more like teens, actually, who all seemed around 14. There was one ten-year-old looking girl with messy blonde hair and bright green eyes, laughing at something the older brunette storyteller with caramel brown eyes said, sitting next to her. What Teva found strange, though, was that they were telling stories about the Guardians. The brunette kid had already said their names so many times the immortal was sure she couldn't be mishearing things.

But why would they be talking about them? At their age, too? From what Tsar had told her people usually stopped believing in the Guardians around 10 or even younger. The blonde girl seemed reasonable, but Teva was pretty sure all the other people were much over 10 years old.

"I can't believe you and Jack messed with Bunny and his Warren! Ooh he's going to be _so_ mad next time he sees you, Jamie," Teva heard the smirking blonde girl say.

The boy, now known as Jamie, replied while snickering. "Yeah, yeah, Sophie. I know. We didn't mess things up _much_ but when he found out it was snowing there and his boomerangs were painted pink, his face was absolutely _priceless!" _The group burst into fits of laughter at the thought.

They continued chatting on as Teva stood there in confusion. "Wait, these guys _know_ the Guardians? How?" she thought aloud. But after putting it all together in her head, the immortal teen's amber eyes then gleamed in a look of realization.

The boy's name is Jamie. The girl's is Sophie. The other young teenagers were probably Jamie's friends. These were the children who helped defeat Pitch during the last battle with the Guardians six years ago. No wonder they know them and still believe. It was quite a coincidence that Teva found them here. Well, she _was_ in Burgess after all, so that made sense. Although it was also still a bit shocking. After all, what other kid got to _personally_ know the Guardians, and say they've been part of the battle against the Boogeyman?

Seeing there was nothing much else really to do at the moment, Teva took a seat on a low tree branch and continued to listen to the Bennett's little tales of the Guardians to amuse herself. After another half an hour or so the group got up to get a snack somewhere, so Teva decided to move as well, finally standing up from her reclining position.

* * *

Her boots crunched softly in the snow and left footprints as she walked, no exact destination she was headed. She had noticed she was actually quite cold earlier - well, freezing, really - so she snatched up a black zip-up hoodie with grey fur lining the ends, along with fingerless grey gloves from the closest store in the city. Now that she thinks about it, just taking it was technically stealing... Should she have left money behind?...

Meh, she didn't have cash anyways, and it's not like anyone would see.

With the zipper and hood up, Teva continued walking through the empty woods with her hands shoved in the hoodie pockets for warmth. Little white clouds of smoke formed and disappeared in the air each time she breathed out. There was a peaceful silence, her quiet footsteps the only noise to be heard in the woods. Spotting a fairly tall tree with not much snow on its branches she could slip on, Teva climbed up. Having climbed many of the bridge-like columns of the ship back in MiM and Teva's home on the ship, she didn't have much trouble reaching the top. The branches were thin, but she should be light enough to lay on it without snapping. A light flurry of snow began falling, the intricate snowflakes dancing around in the breeze. Leaning against the trunk, Teva closed her eyes and fell asleep.

She had a dream. Well, more like a memory.

Teva was younger in the memory, still a child at around 6 then. It took place when the Golden Ages was still thriving, and Teva was climbing a berry tree in a garden. Her mother was there below her, smiling up at her with her light hazel eyes. The older immortal had the same hair as Teva, but tied up in a bun.

"Teva, dear, are you sure you won't fall?" she called up at the young girl.

"I'm _sure_, mother! I'll even get us some berries!" the 9-year-old replied, reaching up to get said berries. She plucked a large bunch of them out and showed it to her mother. "See?"

The mother just chuckled. "That's good, now won't you come down now?"

A reluctant sigh could be heard from up in the branches. "Okay." And quite easily, young Teva hopped down the branches and popped a berry into her mouth. The two sat down in the spring grass, eating the juicy fruit as her mother told stories. Eventually they finished the berries and just sat in silence. Until the persistent young Teva began to ask questions.

"Mother, why isn't Father ever home?" she asked after a while, breaking the silence. She had used to always wonder why they were only able to communicate through letters since her father was needed for his 'special duty'.

The older woman sighed, responding, "I told you, sweetie. He has a _very important_ job to do, and he can't be home if he's needed." The younger immortal pouted, but nodded, understanding. Another question popped up in her mind, and she asked, "Why did you name me '_Teva_'?"

The hazel-eyed woman laughed. "And why is it you're asking?"

"Tsar once said it was weird."

More laughter was heard from the older woman as Teva stared up at her, curious for the answer. "Well, it is, I suppose. But in a good way. I named you that because it means nature, and you are my beautiful flower. Also, you love nature. Don't you think it fits?"

The girl thought for a moment, before beaming up at her, and nodding again.

* * *

Jack Frost was somewhere in England, and as usual, causing his daily mischief. The Guardian of Fun whooped as he slid through the streets, ice appearing where his bare feet skidded along. Then, controlling the wind, he gathered a strong breeze to lift him up higher into the air. Hopping from rooftop to rooftop for a while, he finally leaped up into the sky and laughed in delight as he flew. The wind ruffled his already tousled white hair, which had slight silver highlights in some places if someone looked closely. His deep blue eyes gleamed bright with joy and mischief. Looking down at his work to see the city covered in a fresh, white layer of snow, Jack grinned to himself, satisfied.

"And my work here," he said aloud, "is done."

He smiled wider at a thought. _Burgess, here I come._

Jack smirked mischievously as he thought back to the day before. The first thing he did was that he may or may not have stole one of North's snowglobes... He'd promised he and Jamie would have a blast of fun that day, so he brought the kid with him to the Warren. By now Jamie Bennett was much older than he had been during the battle against Pitch six years before, and he was already a young teen. Sophie was 10, and had been also spending lots of time with the Guardians recently. Jack was more than glad that they all still kept believing.

Once they got to the Warren, Jack had quickly explained his plan that was to be carried out. First, Jack iced up one of the large warrior eggs with two faces and moss covering them; that got Bunny's attention quick. He happened to be re-wrapping the bandages around his boomerangs just before the large egg took his notice, and left them behind on a rock while he went over. Meanwhile, Jamie slyly took the boomerangs and dipped them in the paint river, dying them pink. Jack snickered, remembering the rest that had happened after he made it snow. The 6'1 Easter Bunny's reaction was priceless, but it was when the Guardian of Hope picked up his now pink boomerangs and started throwing them angrily the two decided to leave. The next time they see him, though, oh it was going to be amusing.

Finally fazing out of his thoughts, Jack realized he was already in Burgess, Pennsylvania now. The place where he woke up as a spirit. The place where he got his first believers. Speaking of believers, the winter spirit spotted them just walking out from a snack shop and back to the park, and all smiled in glee when they spotted Jack already waiting there. It wasn't long before they all ended up having a long snowball fight with the winter spirit.

After a while, the whoops and laughter died down as Jamie and his friends, and Sophie, all lay on the ground, exasperated. The spirit of winter leaned against a tree, chuckling a bit.

"Man, that was fun." one of the twins, Caleb, said.

"Nope." Monty corrected. "It was _epic!"_

"It sure was. Thanks for coming, Jack!" the rest exclaimed and were soon having a little conversation going on. Jack, however, was not really paying attention anymore. Just next to his feet, he noticed footprints in the snow, leading to the woods.

It wasn't all that far from the park, and it was normal to see footprints in the snow, but there was no one else around besides Jamie and the others at this moment. His eyebrows furrowed in confusion. Glancing back up, Jack checked to make sure everyone was still there. They were, none of them seeming to notice Jack's confusion in the strange mystery at his feet. It was a strange thing, the mysterious footprints. Jack couldn't help but be interested and want to find out who had ventured into the woods. Especially alone.

Speaking up, he announced, "Hey, guys! Sorry I have to leave early but I'm..going to check something out. Okay?"

The others seemed confused for a moment, but just shrugged it off as one of his Guardian duties. They all nodded.

Jamie, who was leaning back on his elbows, sat up. "Where are you going?" he asked.

"Just for a little fly. No worries, kiddo. I'll be back." the winter spirit smiled reassuringly. Jamie seemed convinced and nodded an okay as well.

The footprints were pretty easy to follow. After a while of flying through the woods, keeping an eye on where the footprints were headed at the same time, he reached a tree. This was where the footprints stopped. _But why would they..._

Jack's thoughts trailed off as he turned his head upwards. And up high on a branch, leaning against the tree's trunk, was a figure. It was pretty slim and wore knee-high black boots, dark jeans, and a fur-lined zip-up hoodie that covered most the person's face. Gliding up to the person, Jack curiously peered closer to see who it was.

* * *

**Tell me if I made any errors and I appreciate all the follows, faves, and reviews!**

**BlueBlanket121: Thank you. And no worries, I'll try not to rush anything.**

**iceprincess96: I'm glad you liked it. They will, but not yet. Thanks:)**

**~FI**


	5. Chapter 5

**Well Thanksgiving Break is over *sigh*. School is back and so updates will vary for when I post the next chapter, and I know I haven't posted one in a while. But here it is! Yay. Read and review, and I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving:)**

******************Disclaimer: I do not own Rise of the Guardians, nor do I own the Guardians of Childhood series. I also do not own any characters from either. William Joyce owns the books and the movies belong to DreamWorks. I only own any of my original characters from this fanfiction.**

* * *

**Chapter 5: New Encounters**

The top part of the hood covered the person's eyes and cast a shadow across the lower part of the face so he couldn't see who it was clearly. However based on the figure of the person, Jack was guessing it was a girl. A teenage one, maybe around his age - well, _physically_ that is. She was laying back on the tree, reclining on the thin branch almost carelessly. Perhaps she was asleep. _But what was she doing up here and in the woods?_ The winter spirit had never seen anyone else hanging this far out into the forest here, let alone someone like her.

He landed on the same branch on the opposite side of where the girl was laying, just a few feet from where she rested. But as his feet touched the smooth bark and his full weight leaned down on the branch, there was a snap. Deep blue eyes widened and he winced. _"_Okay.." he mumbled quietly. "That was _not_ a good idea." And it wasn't. Because next thing he knew the branch snapped more, immediately causing Jack and the once sleeping girl to tumble down through the lower branches and into the cold snow below. The guardian briefly thought of his first experience flying, when he had just became a spirit. It was almost like deja vu as he fell down through the numerous branches, only this time it hurt more. Jack yelped loudly each time he hit one. Not far off from him, the girl seemed to have startled awake and was screaming profanities through the air as she fell.

Finally after what seemed an eternity, both hit the ground, the snow slightly cushioning their fall. Jack groaned as he stood up, leaning on his staff for support. It was worse than the time he'd been shoved in that sack and tossed through one of North's magic portals. Remembering the girl was still there, Jack turned and winced again at the sight. She was even more unfortunate, having landed face-first into the snow. _Whoops._ She stood up and stretched, looking down at herself, as if to check for any broken bones. Jack was surprised she apparently didn't. Though if it weren't for the snow then they both probably _would_ have had some painful injuries.

"Ow.." she mumbled to herself while rubbing her shoulder. "I landed in the snow face-first _twice_ today already. What a great first day.."

She turned her head upwards, as if to see how far up she fell. And it was a pretty _long_ drop. She stood there seeming to be thinking for a moment about something, while Jack quietly observed her. The girl was facing away from him so he still couldn't clearly see who it was or how she looked like. Her hood had fell back, though, to reveal dark brown hair pulled up into a ponytail; but then she shook her head and pulled it up again. The girl began walking further into the forest.

For a second Jack considered speaking up to ask for her name, but she probably wouldn't be able to hear him - or see him. Most people stop believing in 'myths' around in their teenage years anyway. But if he could just see her face then maybe he'd know her from around Burgess. Not personally, of course, but the winter spirit has been around long enough to practically know all the people in Burgess. The place was his home after all - in both mortal and immortal lives. The person kept walking, and Jack hovered up ahead following, curiously.

The teenage girl kept strolling along at a leisurely pace, hands in pockets, hood up. Just five steps behind her the winter spirit casually swung his staff about, frosting the nearby trees and low branches. By now it was about four hours after noon and the two have been moving for close to twenty minutes. Not too long, but Jack didn't even know how long the other teen has been out here in the woods before he came. _Shouldn't she be going back home by now?_ Jack wondered.

Finally, she sighed and sat on a rock, leaning back on the large boulder. She mumbled something inaudible before saying aloud, "I wonder where Nightlight could be.."

Jack was just above her, sitting on a branch when she said this. He raised his eyebrows in his curiosity. "Who's Nightlight?" he asked.

When the guardian said this, he certainly didn't expect a response. But when the girl's head snapped up in his direction and she gave out a shriek, he was taken by surprise. Even Jack almost fell from his sitting position on the branch.

"Wha- Have you been stalking me?" she asked. Her hood still covered her eyes but Jack could practically see them being narrowed at him in suspicion.

The winter spirit remained agape for a moment, wide-eyed at this mysterious girl, before quickly composing himself. _But she could see me!_ he thought. "No! I-I just didn't know- _you could see me?_" Jack stuttered while pointing to himself.

She sighed before standing up and placing her hands on her hips. "Why of course, Jack Frost. Yes I can. But-"

"_But you're a teenager!_ And you believe?" Jack interrupted, smiling wide in his shocked happy state. He felt like doing a million backflips. _She could see me! _

_"_Woah, woah, woah. Hold up," she said while put her gloved hands in front as if to tell him to calm down. "Now before you get your hopes up, no, I don't."

The other teen's dark brown eyebrows furrowed in confusion. The girl was quick to speak before he could interrupt again.

"And that's because I'm immortal, too."

Dark black and white colored eyebrows now shot up as Jack's face turned into a look of surprise. _Well that does kind of make more sense.. _he thought. "Oh... really?" he asked, thinking he might have heard her wrong. A slow nod from the other immortal came in response. "Huh." The guardian was pretty embarrassed at having freaked out over the situation and scratched the back of his neck awkwardly.

A question popped up in his mind and his asked, "Then why haven't I seen you around here before? Are you new?"

"Well, yes, sort of. I just came here from," she paused, hesitating a few moments and seeming to consider something. "-from somewhere else." she finished.

Jack hopped down from the branch, landing on the snow softly. Twirling his staff in his right hand, his left in his hoodie pocket, he took a few curious steps closer. "So what's your name then?"

"Teva."

"Teva what?" he asked leaning closer, smirking playfully. "No last name?"

She ignored his question and instead asked, "How long have you been following me?"

At this the guardian rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly, trying to think of a way to answer. "Well... I _kind of_ was the reason that branch earlier snapped- _Ow!_ Hey! It wasn't my fault you picked such a thin branch to sleep on!"

Jack flew up out of reach of all the snowballs being pelted at him and laughed before gliding back down again when the girl stopped. She seemed angry but Jack could also see the smirk on the part of her face that wasn't covered by her hood. He was starting to get curious about why she still kept it on. When he asked, she sighed and reached up to pull it down. And then he was staring into a pair of golden amber orbs.

* * *

It's been a strange first day for Teva.

She had woke from her dream with a jolt when she realized she was tumbling down the tree she was once resting on and into the snow. Her mind, and herself, screamed as she flailed around and wondered how in the world this had even happened. For a second she'd thought she heard someone else shouting not far off, but she was still screaming too loud in shock at this sudden event to care.

Finally, after what seemed an eternity to her, she stopped falling... and landed face-first into the snow. Again. Groaning to herself about this as she got up, she rubbed her aching shoulder that got hit by a branch - numerous times, on the same spot. _I am not sleeping that high in a tree again. Or in a tree at all, for that matter._ Looking upwards, it was a pretty long drop.

The girl figured the branch she was sleeping on must have somehow snapped while she was sleeping. Speaking of which, Teva began to think back to her dream - the memory of her and her mother in their garden, eating berries, talking. The dream had seemed so real, happening just like she remembered and still crystal clear in her mind. Though she never really liked to think about all what had been, all that's now gone. Their home. Her mother.

_No. Stop._ she told herself. Teva shook her head, trying to let her mind think of something else other than that. So she pulled her hood up, deciding to take a walk through the snow-covered forest.

After a while, Teva allowed herself to rest as she sat down on a large rock, staring out at the wintery landscape around her. A chilly breeze blew back the strands of hair that fell down on her face, before they fell back just slightly over her left eye again. What felt strange, though, was that she had a feeling she was being watched.. _Maybe I'm just being paranoid, _she thought. She fiddled with the cotton fur lining the end of her hoodie. Shifting her thoughts, she wondered how Tsar was doing right now. He was probably just working on one of his inventions back in the ship. Thinking back to what he said about magic portals, she did admit, they were useful but not at all pleasant.

"I never want to go in one of those things again," she mumbled aloud, remembering her trip here to Burgess just earlier in the day. "I wonder where Nightlight could be..."

That's when she heard the voice. "Who's Nightlight?"

Shrieking at the sudden deep voice coming from above her, Teva turned up to see someone with wintery hair and blue eyes sitting on a branch, now looking at her in shock. _Shit, shit, shit, oh my gosh someone HAS been following me around.. _Teva panicked for a split moment. But that's when she realized that people couldn't see her, and this boy didn't look quite normal.

_Wait... wintery hair and blue eyes.. he's also carrying that big wooden stick... _

It was Jack Frost.

And so that's when the two had quite an interesting conversation - but more like a interrogation on Teva's part. She wore an amused look on her face from under her hood at the winter spirit's shock that when she said she was immortal also. When he asked if she was a new spirit, she briefly considered what to say.

_But who would believe I actually came from the Moon? _After all, what could she really say? "_Oh hey I'm actually new here because I'm friends with the Man in the Moon and then he gave me a magic portal that teleported me here to Earth." _Teva silently laughed to herself. She decided to be vague in the answer - she wasn't one for big explanations anyway.

The girl figured it was him who she felt was watching her earlier, and gladly threw snowballs at the guardian's face when he admitted to causing the tree incident earlier.

"Why don't you take off your hood? It's covering most of your face, you know," Jack said while smirking, leaning on his frosted staff.

Teva had kept it on for the reason of not wanting him to see her eyes. She hated them for her own reasons, and plus they were always a strange color. But she sighed and reluctantly pulled down the hood.

Azure eyes met amber as the two stared at each other in a brief silence.

Teva spoke up. "Can we go get out of here? I'm thirsty, so we can talk on the way to there to the city."

She was grateful that Jack nodded in reply. She knew she already had a coffee and a frappe earlier today, but she wanted to get another Starbucks drink. That was probably already too much caffeine for the day, but Teva also didn't really want to hear the other teen's reaction to seeing her eyes. He may have not even thought much about them at all, but still. And so the two walked the way out of the woods in silence, Jack being the first to speak up again.

"Wanna play a game?" he suddenly asked.

She shrugged. "Sure. Depends on what it is, though," Teva replied, glancing at the mischievous spirit strolling alongside her.

He put his left hand in his pocket, explaining. "Well, it's basically just asking questions. I ask one, you answer; then you ask one, I answer." Jack gestured between the two with his staff as he spoke.

Teva was slightly unsure at first, but nodded. "So who first?"

"Me, of course. I started the game." A roll of the eyes from the girl was her response. "What's your favorite color?"

_Well this should be easy._ "Green. Yours?"

"Blue."

"I never would have guessed," Teva said with sarcasm, eyeing the winter spirit's hoodie.

"Have you met any of the other Guardians? I'd be surprised if none of the others ever ran into you."

This Teva considered for a moment. _Well I know MiM but he doesn't really count so.. _She answered him after a second. "Nah. I usually just stick around myself, I guess. How long have you been an immortal spirit?"

"Three-hundred and six years now, I think. How long have you?"

_Okay so this isn't so easy._ Teva thought a moment, frowning. Now that she thinks about it, she was quite old. Really old. The amber-eyed girl muttered an unclear response.

The winter spirit leaned closer, not catching her mumbled answer. "What was that?" A slightly louder response, but still a mumble. "I still didn't hear you."

Teva sighed. "A hundred centuries. There. You're talking to a 10,000 year old immortal girl stuck at the age of 16." She silently hoped he wouldn't ask how, since the earth probably didn't even exist that long.

There were a few moments of silence as Jack slowed his walking and turned towards her with a priceless expression. The surprise on his face wasn't unexpected, but Teva almost snorted in laughter when she saw his eyes. If they got any wider they'd be as large as the moon itself! _Oh if only I had something to take a picture with right now.. _She watched as he took time to compose himself, blinking.

"Wait, you're serious though?" he asked, an unsure expression of shock on his face. The hundred-century-old girl nodded slowly. Jack whistled. "You're old."

"Don't remind me," she replied. She began walking again, Jack following suit. They were almost to the city by now. Remembering it was now her turn to ask a question, Teva asked, "So how'd you become a spirit?"

He furrowed his dark eyebrows slightly and shrugged. "I died saving my sister. Then the Man in the Moon made me into Jack Frost, and 300 years later I was a Guardian."

His answer was brief and quite vague, but Teva figured it wasn't her business to dig into his life story despite her curiousity. Tsar hadn't mentioned much about the Guardian of Fun's past as an immortal, so now she figured it must be quite personal for the winter spirit. Instead, as they reached a Starbucks - the same one Teva had went to earlier - she told him she'd be right back after she got her drink. A few people passed through her but she did her best to ignore it, slyly snatching up someone's coffee and exiting the store after. Jack was just outside, leaning on a tree and frosting the sidewalk, watching people slip with amusement. Teva almost slipped herself as she walked over to him. Spotting her coming out of the shop, Jack smirked.

"What?" Teva, now sipping her coffee, asked.

He laughed, flashing his pearly white teeth. "I saw you steal that," he said, gesturing a glance at the coffee held in her gloved hand.

Teva sheepishly shrugged, before walking again in a random direction. "It's not like I can pay for it. They'd just see through me. Or go through me."

"Oh." Jack seemed to be thinking of something, then asked, "Can... I mean, does anyone believe in you?"

"No. I don't even know if they would, anyway. But it's fine, not like I even have an expression to go by." Teva said.

The two walked in silence for a while. Before they knew it, they were at the park again. Footprints were embedded in the snow and destroyed snow forts could still be seen. Taking a seat on the edge of a statue, Teva asked, "So, back to the question game then?"

* * *

Back in the ship, MiM was, indeed, working on one of his newest inventions.

He had been trying to get some way to see Pitch to find out what he was up to, but with him being in his underground lair it just wasn't possible. Tsar's telescope could only see to where that the moon is up, after all, and the Nightmare King's lair didn't have any access to outside light whatsoever. However, with the help of his moonbeams he was kept informed. No one would have ever thought the little orbs of moonlight could be such helpful spies, but they were useful nonetheless.

So far all was well with the Guardians, North especially busy with it being just a few months away to Christmas. Toothiana was, as usual, energetic as ever, now 'out on the field' collecting teeth with her fairies on some days. Aster maintained his warren and eggs, and Sanderson, the oldest of the five, happily continued his duty of spreading dreams to the children of the world every night in every continent. All was the usual for them. It wasn't nighttime in Burgess yet, but Tsar guessed Teva should have met the newest recruit by now. They should get along well, her and the winter spirit.

The amount of Nightmares around the world was not over a hundred, and Pitch Black seemed to be planning out his intentions very gradually. If the Nightmare King had not had access to his nightmare horses, it would not have been too bad, but now Tsar could be expecting anything. That was why he was doing what he was right now. No, he didn't have everything fully planned out yet, but he was building a device to communicate to the Guardians. Unlike the last time, he couldn't just make simple silhouettes on the floor of North's shop - something like this took a lot more explaining to do.

This newly designed gadget was based off one of Tsar's other ones. The original, which he'd used to tell Jack Frost his name when he first awoke as an immortal spirit. That was how the boy even knew, after all. It took a lot of energy just to _make_ him into one, and the winter spirit didn't have any memory of his past life back then, three centuries ago. Tsar would have explained, but that's when his original design stopped working, so he left fate to lead him to where he is now.

But to make this new design wouldn't be easy. It'd take some time. And until then, MiM just hoped the Guardians would stay on alert.

* * *

**Soo tell me what you think on this one. Is it good/bad or too long or short? Constructional criticism appreciated, tell me if I made any errors. And thanks for the follows/faves/reviews so far, I appreciate all of them!**

**~FI :)**


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: I do not own Rise of the Guardians, nor do I own the Guardians of Childhood series. I also do not own any characters from either. William Joyce owns the books and the movies belong to DreamWorks. I only own any of my original characters from this fanfiction.**

* * *

**Chapter 6: The Message**

Teva and Jack learned a lot about each other during their question game, although it was more like an interesting conversation between the two as they shared their different stories. They talked on as time went, the sky beginning to darken ever so gradually. The wispy white clouds were now thick grey silhouettes drifting lazily above their heads.

By the end of it all, Teva actually knew much more about the Guardians and of some of the other interesting topics Jack's told of. Of these things she'd also learned of the immortal spirits he's come across. He told her about things from his life as a Guardian, which Teva found all the little tales amusing.

The winter spirit, on the other hand, did learn more things about Teva such as some of her interests and et cetera, but she was still a bit of a mystery to him. When he asked if she's even met _any_ other spirits, she shrugged and repeated that she was usually one to stick to herself. But for a _hundred centuries_? Jack felt a bit of sympathy for her, remembering his time in solitude for only three hundred years. It still surprised him, though, that not even Sandy had met her yet - the Sandman _was_ the oldest Guardian and was here the longest, after all. Also he was the first to find Jack during his early times as an immortal spirit. Jack briefly wondered how old _Sandy_ was if Teva was a hundred centuries..

After the two ran out of questions for the while, they sat in silence... or, shall someone say in the winter spirit's case, floated. Teva was resting her back against the bottom of the statue, seated on the ground and drinking the remains of her coffee. Jack floated in front of her as if on an invisible reclining chair, his arms each spread out across his long wooden staff.

"So.. I forgot to ask again, who's Nightlight?" Jack asked, suddenly curious again.

"Hm?" Teva wasn't entirely paying attention, for she was partially busy in finishing up the last of her coffee, slurping up the rest of it loudly with the green straw.

"Just earlier today, when you first noticed me you said something about a guy named 'Nightlight'," Jack said.

"You mean to say when I first noticed you stalking me and hearing something you weren't supposed to?" Teva put her empty cup down and smirked. She laughed when the guardian glanced to the side sheepishly in response.

"I was just curious!" he said while grinning. "Plus, I didn't know you were immortal then."

Teva sighed, resting her chin in her palm and thinking. "He was a friend of mine from a long time ago - immortal, too, actually. Now that I think about it you kinda remind me a little about him." She paused, glancing over at the now sitting guardian across from her. _"_Actually, _a lot_. I mean, you both carry around a staff, have silvery-white hair, and he was really mischievous and loved to play pranks for fun. Only he couldn't talk. I don't know where he is right now, though."

The Guardian of Fun smirked, sitting criss-crossed and leaning on his upright staff. "Well, when you find him maybe introduce him to me. He sounds cool."

The girl snorted. "I'm sure you two would get along _perfectly,_ being the troublemaker-spirits you are."

"Hey! I just bring fun, it's my job," Jack defended, feigning an innocent look.

"_Right_." Teva stood up and stretched. Looking at the sky and seeing the sun starting to set, she whistled. "Wow, how long have we been talking for?"

The guardian rose as well, scratching his head and looking up at the sky also. The clouds were fluorescent shades of purple and pink from the light of the sunset. In about an hour or so Sandy would be coming to spread his dreams.

"A couple hours.. it _is_ getting late." He paused, eyebrows furrowed as if trying to remember something. A second later he shot up, eyes wide. "Shoot! Hey, um, I forgot I told one of my believers, Jamie, I was going to come back for him. But then I found you and he's probably been waiting and I have to go, sorry. See ya!"

The winter spirit saluted a quick wave goodbye before flying off into the air. The dumbfounded immortal girl was left standing there, blinking wide-eyed as she stared after his shrinking form. The guardian had spoken quite fast so she had hardly been able to process what he was saying. _Okay then. _Shaking her head, she bent back down to pick up her now empty coffee cup. She straightened back up and walked to a trash can, tossing it in. Teva began walking through the less crowded streets, letting the light wind blow softly against her face. Stars were just beginning to peek out dimly from the sky.

All was calm and usual until one of the street lamps flickered out. Another did, too. Teva stopped, looking at them. She didn't make a sound for a couple of seconds, as if waiting for another to go out as well. The faint honking of cars could be heard coming from in the distance. A group of teenagers came out of a nearby store, chatting away about something about perfume. Everything seemed perfectly normal.

The immortal girl sighed before continuing to walk. _Lights flicker out all the time. It's nothing. _

Teva laughed, remembering when half of all the lights went out back in Tsar's ship. She didn't even know it was possible, considering the Lunar family were known as some of the _best_ inventors during the Golden Age and had designed the moon-ship themselves. The lights hardly ever ran out there - only perhaps a bulb or two - but a curious moonbot happened to flip off some of the switches in the power room. Half of the whole inside of the ship went out black and Teva and Tsar practically had to crawl their way through the darkness before turning them all back on again. It was pretty amusing, thinking back to it now.

The girl strolled along, too stuck in her thoughts to notice the black sand horse creep into an apartment window across the street.

* * *

The device was unordinary to the appearance. It worked _almost_ like what people call a walky-talky, with one part to speak through and the other to hear, but looked nothing of the like. It was practically invisible, although not quite. The transparent cube would work like a speaker, where people could hear MiM speaking from the other end. One of the moonbeams would carry it on its head (don't ask how, even Tsar didn't know), and the listener could hear Tsar's voice when it's used.

It was strange - _very strange -_ and complex, and Tsar had only drawn the design of it. It was the same as the original, only with more improvements. He may have been the Man in the Moon, but he couldn't just do anything. He had his doubts on if it would work when he actually started making it, but he had to try. If he used his silhouette shapes to form the figures of a Nightmare horse, Pitch, and Pitch escaping his lair, it would probably be too confusing for the Guardians to understand. They'd probably jump to the worst conclusion and start a battle too soon. To make sure everything was fine so far, Tsar had assigned some of his moonbeams to watch over the five protectors of childhood.

Tsar also couldn't just simply send a letter, as he had once tried. Nor could he just use a portal. The moonbeams were the only things that could travel from the ship to Earth and back, but if they were to deliver a letter it'd most likely just fly away in the wind. In fact, the letter Tsar tried sending had flew away, once. The portal he had given for Teva to use was the last of the ones he had, made for emergency uses. But since there was only one and Tsar hadn't the need to go to Earth, he gave it for her own opportunities. The portals, and even North's snowglobes of which they were based off of, were only one-way devices that could teleport you to any place on _Earth. S_o, even of MiM _did_ have extras, he wouldn't be able to go back to his ship.

This is why he had to build this device. And, in doing so, it would take some time. Tsar had to first design it, next get the things needed _for_ it, and then make it. He didn't know exactly how long it'd take. But for now, he had to do what he could. Tsar walked over to the control room of the ship, moving his ship so that the full moon was now visible from Earth in the opening of North's workshop. He simply pressed a few buttons, then left to go back to his work.

They should be sure to notice the message.

* * *

Back in the North Pole, in the ever busy workshop of Nicholas St. North, the yetis continued their toy-building work loudly. They grunted, carefully sculpting and painting the toy replicas off of the intricate ice models North had made. The loud clinking of metals and musical instruments being tested rang through the air. Hyper little elves scurried about, cookies and Christmas decorations in hand - although not exactly helping in any way.

North hummed a tune to himself as he walked along through his workshop. He checked on the yetis to make sure they were doing the work right, and sometimes called out compliments or improvisation advice on the toys.

"No, no, you're doing it wrong! Like this, see?" he would point out to a yeti. Or, "Ah, magnificent. Keep up good work." One time North had to stop near a table where a yeti was working on painting some toy robots.

"Joe, how many times do I have to say, you must paint it red _only. Not_ blue." The yeti apparently named Joe groaned and slammed its head on the table as North continued walking.

Continuing to hum his little tune, North then headed to the Globe room. Every day since the incident six years ago with Pitch, he made sure that all the belief lights were still shining bright. A few would dim out and flicker sometimes, but that was pretty normal. Kids eventually grew up and forgot about all the "fairy tales" and "myths" they've been told of. After his quick check on the globe, the large man was about to walk away when something caught the corner of his eye. He turned up, blue eyes widening in surprise when he saw the moon. The full, glowing sphere shown down brightly through the open window of the globe room.

"Manny?"

North stroked his beard, curious to what the Man in the Moon could need the Guardians to do now. He only did this on certain occasions, so this must be important. "What is it, old friend?" the Russian man asked, anxious.

Beams of moonlight shone down on the floor, specifically where the tile with the "G" was, and began forming a shape. North stepped closer, wide-eyed and curious to what it may be. It formed a silhouette of Pitch. The Guardian of Wonder gasped in shock before he saw the image fade away and another silhouette formed. It was a clock.

The guardian's face contorted to a look of confusion, looking back up at the moon in question. The moonlight on the floor simply faded away again, and the light dimmed as the moon started to move on past view from the open window. North was perplexed.

A figure of Pitch, and a clock. What could it possibly mean?

At first the man was worried the king of nightmares had returned, but it turns out that was not what MiM was trying to say. The clock part was what North was confused about. Perhaps it could be about Father Time? He shook his head. Father Time rarely left his castle and didn't even come in contact with many other spirits. But it did _have_ to do _something_ about time..

Someone could practically see the gears working in North's mind as he stroked his white beard. Suddenly his furrowed eyebrows shot up in realization as a thought clicked in his head. _Could this be?.._ he thought.

A nearby elf stopped running and looked up at him in question. North nodded to himself, as if finally understanding something. "Manny must be saying Pitch will come back, soon." The Russian man mumbled this to himself before heading back over to the globe. "We need to call the Guardians, now. We must stay on alert. _Jingle_! Make preparations."

And with that North turned and pushed the lever summoning the Aurora Borealis in the sky. It would be visible all over the world wherever the other Guardians are, visible to only immortal spirits. Off to North's right, the elf gleefully ran off to make the cookies and eggnog. That was probably the only things they were good for, anyway.

* * *

**This one's a pretty short chapter but I hope y'all like it anyways. Next one will probably be longer.**

**About the thing with Tsar's device, by the way, it's an original idea - for the rest of the people who might be wondering. I also know that the explanation I did for how the device looks like and works is strange lol.. But I realized that if Tsar had told Jack his name with the original version, why didn't Jack see it? So I figured it'd be like some little transparent speaker thing, maybe like the size of an ice cube. ****MiM would have a part he could speak through back in the ship.** Again, weird, but that was all I could think up for how it looks XD 

**The way Tsar could make his silhouettes is kinda like Sandy's dream sand - he can form pictures with the moonlight directed at the floor by pressing certain buttons in the ship's control room. That's just my guess on how it works, anyway.**

**I'm kinda unsure about this chapter but please tell me your thoughts in a review. Thanks!**

**-FI:)**


	7. Chapter 7

**Omg guys I feel like I haven't updated in forever. It's been almost _three weeks._ Three weeks. I know how it feels to be waiting so long for a fanfic to be updated but I've been so busy gahh. **

**Luckily, it's winter break now, though, so no school. It being the holidays though, I wasn't able to work on my fanfic much. I was originally planning to post this chapter _earlier_ too, but yesterday I couldn't freaking log in because of some "503 error" or whatever. So that sucked. Anyways, I finally finished it. I don't know why it took this long but well here it is. :]**

******Disclaimer: I do not own Rise of the Guardians, nor do I own the Guardians of Childhood series. I also do not own any characters from either. William Joyce owns the books and the movies belong to DreamWorks. I only own any of my original characters from this fanfiction.**

* * *

**Chapter 7: The Meeting**

Jack landed gracefully on the Bennett's rooftop, frost fern designs spreading out from where his toes touched. The winter spirit laughed, then gliding down to Jamie's window. He'd been talking to that girl, Teva, for a couple long hours. Jamie and his friends must have been waiting when Jack flew off into the woods earlier and left when he didn't return soon. Now that Jack thought about it, despite that, it must have been rude to just fly off on Teva so fast.. he thought about this sheepishly.

However, the guardian couldn't help but feel a bit paranoid with his believers. Sure, there were much more people who believed in him around the world since the battle six years ago, but Jamie and the other kids of Burgess were his _first _believers. And Jamie, his _very_ first. Jack didn't want them to suddenly stop believing in him again, especially with them all growing older. He knew it was a part of life for people to stop believing eventually, but Jamie especially meant a lot to him. He reminded Jack a lot of his little sister from his mortal life, actually, so the kid was like a little brother. Less of a "little" brother now that Jamie was 14 - only three years younger than Jack physically was now. His hair was different and was slightly darker somehow, and he also grew taller. Jamie was already growing into a teenager like he was himself. Nonetheless, Jack always felt the need to visit him when he could.

The curtains were drawn closed in Jamie's room, but telling by the faint light that still glowed through the fabric Jack could see that the other younger teen was still up. The immortal tapped the end of his staff to the window, creating intricate frost patterns on the glass. The little crackling noises of the ice must have caught Jamie's attention quickly, for just a mere second later excited footsteps could be heard rushing to the window. The believer's hands pulled aside the curtains, his brown eyes lighting up when he saw the winter spirit outside.

"Jack!" his muffled voice came through the glass. Jamie then grimaced slightly, pausing and turning around as if someone else might have heard him. He turned back to the window and opened it, allowing the guardian inside. "You're back! What took you so long?" Jamie said, less loudly this time.

The winter spirit glided in, a chilly breeze flowing in after him. "Yeah, I guess I kinda forgot about earlier when I said I'd be back.."

"Actually, it's fine. I mean, you're not my babysitter or anything." The brunette teen rolled his eyes while smiling. Jack relaxed in Jamie's desk chair, grinning back. Jamie shut the window before turning back to the spirit excitedly. "So, I wanna know what you found in the forest! You went in there for those footprints, didn't you?"

Now the guardian was taken aback by Jamie's question. Jack blinked in surprise before answering. "Wait, you knew about that? How?" he asked.

The 14-year-old flopped down on his bed, sitting back on the pillows. "Duh, man. They were literally _right there_ where you were standing, anyways."

"Oh." Jack pulled one foot up to his seat casually. "You didn't follow after me, did you?" he asked.

"No, that's why I wanted to know what you found. C'mon Jack, tell me already!" the curious teen said.

"Well," Jack started, smirking as he thought back to what happened. "I found someone."

Jamie nodded for him to go on.

"She was this girl, around my age - _physically_, that is. I saw her in the woods and followed her around for a bit-" Jamie gave out a loud snort.

"You just saw a girl in the woods so you decided to stalk her?" the boy interrupted.

The guardian gave an annoyed roll of his eyes "_No.._ Well, kinda," Jack shrugged sheepishly. "It was just that I found her sleeping in a tree when I, well, _accidently_ made the branch snap, then-"

The brunette teen guffawed. "You-you _what?"_ he laughed. "_How_ high was the tree, Jack? Oh god, you made her fall all the way down didn't you?" Jamie had to take a few moments to calm his laughter.

"Hey, like I told her, it wasn't all my fault!" Jack put up his hands defensively.

"Yeah, well maybe you shouldn't have- wait, _t__old _her?" Jamie's giggling died down to hiccups as he leaned closer to Jack, curious. "She believes in you?"

"That's just what I thought at first.." the white-haired teen trailed off. Seeing his believer's still expectant expression, Jack sighed.

_This was gonna be interesting._

After a very long explanation of his encounter with Teva - _with many interruptions by the listening teen, by the way _- the winter spirit finally managed to sum up all the details of what happened earlier. Jamie was just as shocked as Jack was when he said Teva was actually a hundred-century-year-old immortal spirit. He was still much like the curious eight year old boy he was six years ago, so he couldn't help but asking more questions.

"What did she look like?"

"Pretty normal, actually. That's why I thought she _was_ normal at first. But she had golden eyes." Jack remembered perfectly when the girl's amber eyes had been revealed, staring back at his own blue ones. He had a strange feeling about them, but it must have just been the color.

"Golden eyes? Maybe she's half cat or something," Jamie joked. "That sounds cool, though."

Jack chuckled in reply, leaning forward on his staff. When Jamie asked where she was now, Jack shrugged. "Not sure right now."

Just when Jamie was about to ask another question, the bedroom door opened. Both teens turned to see Mrs. Bennett standing at the door, hand on the knob. The woman had her brown hair tied up in a bun, and glasses rested on her nose. She peered around the room with her face contorted into a look of confusion. Her eyes scanned the - _to her eyes - _empty desk chair in the middle of the room for the narrowest second, before turning to Jamie.

The boy was slightly relieved that his mother couldn't see the white-haired teen sitting there in his room. Jack, on the other hand, just tried his best to stay still in Jamie's rolling chair, in case it might move. Luckily the winter spirit was also holding his staff, so that Mrs. Bennett wouldn't have to notice a strange large stick laying on the ground.

"Um, hi mom?" Jamie awkwardly asked.

"Jamie, did I hear you talking to someone?" Mrs. Bennett asked.

Jack silently snickered. Jamie glanced a short side-glare at the spirit. Unlike other times when he was younger, Jamie couldn't simply say that he was talking to Jack Frost - even though it was actually true. The 14-year-old stuttered for a moment, trying to think up an excuse his mother might believe.

"Uhh... I was, um, talking to Caleb on the phone!" Jamie picked up his cell phone, which had conveniently been laying on the bed next to where he was sitting. "Yeah, he called earlier so we've been talking for a while," he lied.

Mrs. Bennett furrowed her eyebrows in slight suspicion, before sighing and nodding. "Shouldn't he be asleep by now? And you, too? It's getting late."

Jamie groaned. "But mom! I'm fourteen and it's only like-"

"About 10pm now?" Mrs. Bennett raised an eyebrow. Jamie was about to protest before he took a glance at his clock, biting his lip. _It's only 9:59_... he inwardly groaned again when it turned exactly 10pm. No more weak excuses he could make up now. "Go to sleep, Jamie. I don't want you to be waking up your sister so no more talking to Caleb. Goodnight."

The brunette boy watched as his mother exited, closing the door behind her. Jack was the first to speak up.

"Y'know, lying can get you on North's naughty list this year." he smirked.

Jamie quietly snorted in reply. "Jack, from what I know, you hold the record on his naughty list."

The winter spirit shrugged, smirk still on his face. "Well, that's true."

"So.." Jamie whispered, trailing off. "I'm guessing you have to leave now, huh?"

Jack nodded, standing up from the chair. "Yeah, I guess," he said. "I'll see you later, kiddo."

Just before Jack hopped out the window, Jamie spoke. "Tell me more about the girl if you see her again!"

The other teen simply chuckled again in reply before flying out the window and into the winter night air. The guardian was just thinking about spreading more snow in other areas around the world when he saw the lights. They spread out in colorful ribbons of purple and green light contrasting to dark sky. Normally they shouldn't have been able to reach places like Burgess - only at the pole - but these weren't the normal Aurora Borealis.

North was calling the Guardians.

The Guardian of Fun furrowed his eyebrows in confusion, using the wind to pick up speed and take him to the North Pole.

* * *

Teva was sitting on top of a random building, staring up at the cloudy night sky. She stared in awe when it suddenly lit up with lights of green, pink, and purple. _Was this even normal to happen?_

The girl didn't know much about Earth, but she knew these lights couldn't have been a normal occurrence. She gazed up at them for a while before she saw more lights appearing in the corner of her eye. Turning her head, Teva saw that they were streams of golden sand. _The Sandman's work. _They strung out from a large cloud of dreamsand in numerous directions, disappearing behind the windows of different houses. One strand came close within her reach and Teva stretched out a hand to it. It didn't look like normal sand, and it had a sort of warm glow to it. The dreamsand flowed through her fingers before a figure suddenly popped up.

It was a bird. Not an actual bird, of course, but a little golden figure of one. The little finch seemed to cock its head at her, peering back at Teva in equal curiosity. It flapped in circles around her for a moment before it flew back into the stream. The girl watched with a giddy smile on her face as each stream transformed into a dream within the windows. Another strand of sand stretched out from the sand cloud, moving towards the oblivious girl's direction from her left.

Teva always got easily distracted, believe it or not. Most of the time she could be very clever and sarcastic, and was one to always kid around. She was sly, and a lot of times got away with things. Many times, though, Teva would also get very stuck in her thoughts. She'd think up random tales in her head, like if some miracle were to mystically happen out of nowhere.

Like if an uninteresting book Tsar would be showing her would magically start to levitate and fly through the ship.

Or if a bird that landed near her in the forest suddenly started to casually talk to her when she was bored.

Or if she had the power to summon a frappeccino out of midair. That would have been neat.

Her wild imagination sometimes actually helped her come up with some witty metaphors. Sometimes.

The point is, Teva just got easily distracted. This time she was too busy staring at the other streams of dreamsand around her that she wasn't paying attention to the one a foot to from her face. There was another window of a child's bedroom in the hotel to her right, and she was in the way.

The stream was inches from her face now.

Centimeters...

_Millimeters..._

Teva yelped as the golden sand hit her in the side of the face, specks of the sand going in her eye. Yelping, the teen quickly dodged out of the way from the stream and tried to rub the sand off her face. _Stupid, stupid. _she thought. She needed to get it the dreamsand off her _face_ before she-

A mere second later, though, a wave of drowsiness overcame her and she plopped down on the cement rooftop. Tsar would have been amused if he saw her just then.

* * *

Jack was greeted by a wave of warmth from the fire in the room as he flew in through one of the open windows of the workshop. The Guardian whooped as he slid along the floor of the Globe room, icing the tile with his staff. He snickered mischievously when a certain other Guardian with big ears slipped and almost dropped the cup of eggnog he was drinking.

"_Crikey, Frostbite! __What the bloody hell did ya do that for?!"_ the Easter Bunny exclaimed. He straightened up and cautiously stepped away from the ice trail the winter spirit has made. Luckily it was already starting to melt away so he wouldn't happen to slip on it again. He tolerated the winter spirit more these days, but sometimes he could just be so annoying. Bunny grunted to himself, remembering what the spirit and Jamie had done to his Warren the day before. He managed to get _most_ of the pink paint off of his boomerangs, but a lot of the pink still stayed. _He was going to get Frost for that later_.. A snicker was the Pooka's only response.

"Jack, my boy, nice to see you have come!" North suddenly came and scooped Jack up in a bone-crushing embrace.

"Nice to *cough* see you too, North," Jack managed to wheeze. He sighed in relief when the other Guardian finally set him down.

Off to Jack's right, Tooth was just giving out her last orders to her mini fairies. He could only really understand the words "molar" and "incisor" as the fairy spoke almost as rapidly as her wings were beating. Each mini fairy nodded before they all zoomed out through the workshop windows. Jack raised his eyebrows in shock when he noticed they were actually going _through_ the glass. _Must be how they collect the teeth... _He turned his head away from the fairies only to see Tooth right in front of him, magenta eyes lit up in happiness. She hugged him before backing up again with her hands on his shoulders.

"Jack, it's so nice to see you again!"

"Hey Too–_thwa uh herghh_-" The winter spirit was cut off as she pried his mouth open, peering in at his teeth.

"I'm so glad you're here and _oh my goodness you're teeth are as white as_ _always._" Tooth chittered on.

"_Qwoogh?"_ Bunny could be heard snickering in the background, along with the muffled chuckling of North. "_Wooth..._ _Twooth!_" Jack's muffled voice stopped the fairy's babbling.

"Oh, sorry. I got distracted again." She backed away sheepishly.

Finally being able to have some personal space again, the winter spirit leaned back on a nearby column. A yeti came with a tray of eggnog and cookies and offered them to Jack, who refused. He took a minute to glance around. The sounds of grumbling yetis and the faint whistles of toy trains could be heard in the distance from the other busier parts of the workshop. A few elves came and went in the Globe room, the little bells on their triangular red suits jingling as they walked. It's been a while since he'd been at the Pole, and it was nice to be here again. Only he was here because of the signal, and he was curious to know the reason that North called them all here in the first place. The others must have been wondering the same since Tooth and Bunny spoke up. Sandy was off to Jack's right and waved when he caught sight of Jack.

"So why'd ya call us all here, mate?" Bunny addressed to North. "I still needa prepare for next year's Easter, y'know," he said.

"Yeah, it's not something too bad, is it?" Tooth asked with a hint of worry in her voice.

The expression of the Guardian of Wonder's face turned serious. North stroked his beard, considering how to explain the situation.

"Well," he started in his Russian accent. "I called you all here because of Manny - he sent me a message earlier today."

The other Guardians' faces turned into expressions of alarm. They waited for him to continue.

"He showed me a figure of Pitch, and then, a clock. I think he must be saying Pitch will come back, and soon," North stated briefly. "He may want us to stay alert."

There was a short silence as the other Guardians' faces switched into expressions of both alarm and confusion.

"Wait, but I thought we got rid of him six years ago," Jack spoke up, his dark eyebrows furrowed.

Sandy created symbols above his head of an exclamation mark and an image of a figure being sucked in a closing hole. The hole then shut completely until there was nothing, then Sandy made a question mark.

"Yeah, what Sandy said," Bunny said. "That shadow dingo's long gone by now trapped in his own lair along with most his ponies."

The Guardian of Wonder shrugged, as he also was slightly confused. "He was, yes, and I don't know how he can possibly return, but I do not doubt Manny. I know what I saw and I feel he is right - in my belly." He patted his belly knowingly.

Bunny rolled his eyes. "Listen, North, I know last year ya may have been right, but this just doesn't even makes sense. First off, it's all too sudden for him to gain power so quickly. Even if, none of us has even seen a sign of a Nightmare in years but a few every here and then. Right, Sandy?"

The Sandman's eyes furrowed in thought before shrugging. He stuck out his thumb and index finger as if to say "a few."

The group stood in another moment of silence, each seeming to be deep in thought.

Bunny leaned back on another column, arms crossed. North hummed to himself thoughtfully. Jack's grip tightened on his staff. The Sandman seemed to be preoccupied, also with a look of thought on his face. Tooth wringed her hands together in worry, her lips set in a thin line. All the Guardians (especially Tooth) were greatly devastated when Pitch had stole the teeth and the mini fairies all those years ago. Bunny's holiday was ruined and they thought they'd lost Sandy forever, and if it weren't for Jack getting Jamie to believe again all belief would have been lost, too. The whole battle six years ago was a bunch of chaos, and it _was_ quite too soon for another one to start. Even Bunny was unsure. What if North and Manny were right?

North sighed. "We all do not know much of this situation, but we can stay alert, like said earlier," he declared. "We each continue our normal duties as Guardian, and keep watch for signs of Pitch or Nightmares. If do, we meet up or let each other know. Here."

North called for a yeti to come with his coat that he usually wore when he was out of his workshop. He dug in the pockets, removing his hands from them with a pile of snowglobes. There were six of them, fist-sized, and North set them down carefully on a nearby table. He then tossed two out to each of the other Guardians, who caught them easily. Jack pocketed his two snowglobes in his hoodie. Tooth was given a shoulder-bag to put them in and Sandy made his own small bag out of sand for the snowglobes. Bunny, of course, didn't need them because he had his tunnels to travel through.

"You may need them for future use, so you may keep them until needed. Tell them your destination, and there you will go," North said. He then turned to the winter spirit, a warning look in his eye. "Jack, no funny business. They are only for emergency use and can only be used once."

The spirit of fun feigned an innocent look, smirking slightly. "I won't, I won't," he raised his hands up a bit in defense.

The other Guardians nodded in agreement to North's first statement. It was all they could do, if MiM said something was going to happen soon.

* * *

**Tell me if I made any errors, I appreciate all the follows, faves, and reviews. I hope you all had a great Christmas btw.**

**-FI:)**


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